Sunday, 4 February 2018

Sunday, Sunday (46)

Alissa Wilkinson published an interesting article on Vox regarding the blending of fact and fiction in film. When I studied film at university, we did an entire course on documentary filmmaking, with many of the case studies toeing the line between fact and fiction.

Wilkinson talks about American Animals (currently being showcased at Sundance), and the biopic I, Tonya. She explores how 'mixing fiction and nonfiction pushes us out of our comfort zones', and how the mixture of two familiar genres reinvigorates them as a whole.

Originating from and growing up in the UK has meant that I have missed a lot of cultural touchstones within American culture, including Fred Rogers and his television series Mister Roger's Neighborhood. The educational preschool series ran from 1968 to 2001 and captured the hearts of kids across America with his kind-heartedness and directness to audiences.

Rogers will now be portrayed by Tom Hanks in an upcoming biopic, You Are My Friend via TriStar Pictures. Directed by Marielle Heller and written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, the film will loosely follow the relationship between Rogers and journalist Tom Junod who wrote a famous profile on Rogers for Esquire in the late 1990s.

You Are My Friend is set to begin production in the fall of this year.

Lana Del Rey was her beautiful, goddess self at the Grammys this week; wearing an outfit inspired by inventor and movie star Hedy Lamarr for the movie Ziegfeld Girl (1941). I swear to God she time traveled to this decade to bring Classic Hollywood back.

If you're a film buff like me and are struggling to find some films that you've never seen or heard of before, Den of Geek complied a fantastically specific list of under-appreciated movies from the year 1986. Twenty films are listed, including The Manhattan Project (starring John Lithgow and Christopher Collet), Manhunter (starring William Petersen and Brian Cox), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (starring Dennis Hopper and Caroline Williams) and River's Edge (Keanu Reeves and Ione Skye).

I've only recently been getting my news/research from Bustle, and they are proving to be an amazing source for lists of books to read. Books that I certainly would have never come across if not for specific lists that writers of the site have compiled, including this one that lists ten books to read whilst you wait for the next Black Mirror season to come around.

YouTube creator Shesez uncovers secrets and the complexities within GTA V and how the game was made in this insightful (and amusing) video.

Absolute Radio has been tending to my 90s soundscape needs, but only via the internet. For months I couldn't listen to the station in the car, only via my phone or computer.

Last week marked the first time the station had come to DAB, and I'm still ecstatic. I absolutely love that station, I'm discovering so many musicians that I'd either vaguely listened to before or ones I had never heard of. And obsessing over my favourites.

I literally have nothing to say other than I am Morgan Adams. Seriously. She could either be a lost sister or my doppelganger.

Watching veteran and newer actors talk amongst each other is immensely intriguing, and The Hollywood Reporter's roundtables produce an interesting conversation between a plethora of actresses, actors, and directors.

In this instance, Tom Hanks (The Post), James Franco (The Disaster Artist), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour), John Boyega (Detroit), Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri), and Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project). They discuss anxiety and pressure within the acting realm, portraying famous figures and the intricacies involved, working alongside personal heroes and sexual harassment within the industry.

Shirley Manson - a personal hero of mine - is finally being recognized as an NME Icon for their awards this year. I won't gush about her here (I'll save that for another post), but Manson could not be happier. As she states in an interview with NME, she and Garbage depended on NME, as the magazine was 'one of the first British publications to help break [the band] back in 1995.'

NME Editor-in-Chief Mike Williams enthused that 'Garbage gave us some of the defining singles of the 90s, and Shirley set a template for being a fearless straight-talker that has influenced countless acts and millions of fans since.'